Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Is it really Wednesday already?I must say, it is scary to type, "Week 4" in the blog title. I have been feeling under the weather for the past two weeks, and that paired with the two weeks until our room reveal timeline is leaving me filled with a bit of anxiety. Mad props to designers who do rooms for a living, I bow down to you.

Each week we have been making progress, and although I am showing a few more pieces of the puzzle this week, we have about 109 more things happening behind the scenes to power through. My hubby deserves a big hug.

Last week I mentioned I was giving the paint color one more week and making a decision. Well, my decision is that I just don't have the strength to take on a full paint job at the moment. And as I layered in some new elements over the past few days, it keeps coming together. So for now, it is staying and I am going to keep working with it. Anything we are doing to our space will match an endless number of wall colors should we decide to change it down the road. And knowing us, we will.

Because we basically transplanted our previous living space to our downstairs family room, that left this space a complete blank slate. Everything down there is now super cozy, including our previous living room rug. In fact, it was a magical addition because it is so much thicker and softer on our lower level floors, literally warming it up. I brought the rug from downstairs up to see how it would fit, but quickly realized we needed something bigger than a 6x9 option.

Knowing we are bringing our pattern and colors into the space through things like fabrics and accessories, I want to keep our investment pieces a bit more neutral. We are hoping that we won't have to touch this space for years after we are done with it, so things like cabinets, the sofa, floors and the rug, all have to be timeless and more "grown up". My husband did remind me that we are now closer to our 40's than our 30's the other day... sigh...

Rug shopping wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. How hard can it be to find a simple 8'x10' solid rug? Everything I loved at my "go to" Rugs USA was on back order or sold out. I am also sure I hit every HomeGoods and rug store in the Twin Cities area. When I spotted the Grey Fringe Rug at Pottery Barn, I managed to grab the last one in inventory. Such a relief. And even more of a relief is that it really defined our living area just as I was imagining it would.

As you can see above, we started pulling apart the media cabinet. We have been going over plans and have our electrician coming to move some outlets for us this week before we can build it back together. It will be nice to bring our TV back into the space, watching Hulu on the computer while we work on projects isn't quite the same.

Let's chat about the added chairs for a minute. For years and years I have had my eyes on spindle chairs. But the prices! I never had it in me to take the plunge because they were typically only found at high-end furniture stores and cost more than any sofa we have purchased. And for good reason, they are gorgeous! So last year when I spotted a spindle chair at HomeGoods for a quarter of the normal price, you can bet I scooped that baby up in a heart beat. It had been living in our son's room ever since....

For the last six months it has been waiting patiently for this renovation, but it needed a little face lift before moving to our new living room. I painted it Benjamin Moore's Simply White and had it reupholstered in Tonic Living's Meadow Monarch Trellis fabric. The upholsterer added extra support and batting and the cushions are all removable and washable. The combination of the fabric and chair is stunning and finally brought my love for green into the room.

The chair is so comfortable and plush. I can't wait to add books back to the space and call dibs on this corner as mommy's "time out" chair. I am slightly concerned that it is a little light colored for a family space, but I found some well reviewed fabric protector which is a healthier alternative to Scotchgard (I will be sure to post a review once I have tested it out, a few of you had questions on my fabric protecting plans). And the cushions can all be washed like slipcovers so hopefully my dream chair stays. If not, a chair swap can happen easily enough, but that will also mean that I will have to move with it....

After the rug came in, we realized that we had room to add a second chair. In fact, it would balance out the conversation area, which I am really giddy about. What I also love about using a couple of chairs in this space is that they can easily be moved around depending on how we are using the room. (In the photos the chairs look a little crammed with the bookcase but they have a few inches to move forward, and with the bookcase taken apart the center unit is temporarily pulled out quite a bit further from the wall than where things will ultimately land.) I hopped right onto Craigslist and my quick hunt turned up this pretty gal.

Of course, when I picked it up it had seen better days, but it also received a few coats of paint and she instantly looked like new. Now I just have to decide on the fabric for the cushion. Speaking of fabrics, wanna see what I landed on?

I finally found a combo that will flow with the rest of the home and continue to tie all of our spaces together. I am not-so-patiently waiting for some pillow covers to show up in my mailbox and I may even try to dust off my sewing machine this week. Clock is a tickin'.

I thought about tufting the coffee table top, but I couldn't find a darker fabric that was feet friendly yet didn't weigh down the entire space visually. So I decided that a sturdy wood top would be a feet and cocktail approved alternative. We cut a piece for the top and still have to cut a second chunk for the bottom to fit, and this week I am also playing with stain combinations to finish things off.

Although I have always had a crush on airy spaces with white and bright colors, I also love adding black accents. The drapes will have black banding, the table has pretty black legs and we also added a gallery of black frames to the large wall going down the stairs.

One of the things I appreciated when we walked into our home prior to the renovation, was our large wall of family photographs. Those larger frames also moved downstairs, but I still want our family moments to remain in this space. The stairway frames are from Michaels and the mats are from Amazon. The photographs... they still have to be printed...

I still have to land on a decision regarding the entry pendant and we have a few hooks sitting on the ledge to be installed. I would also love to add wallpaper to the panels going down the stairs but we will see if that makes the cut.

Although trying to take on this big of a space in six weeks is a bit overwhelming (I typically tweak rooms over the course of years so I am learning as I go), it is nice that we are finally to a point of being able to actually use the room again after almost four months.

Now, I am going to curl up in my "time-out" chair, take a breather, and check out the rest of the One Room Challenge spaces before getting back to kitchen floor installing, table staining, pillow sewing and media stand building.

Wow Jen, you are really taking on a lot! Can't believe you're doing all of this at the same time as your kitchen renovation, I think I'd be having a nervous breakdown! Love all the choices so far & can't wait to see how it all turns out!

jen the room is looking fabulous . love the planked ceiling also slightly obsessed with your sofa i think i rember reading about but cant find the post ;( can you point me in the right direction and tell me about the new sofa? thank-you

I am always so impressed at all the work you do on your home! I wish we lived closer so you could help me. You have a beautiful home and a beautiful family. I love your blog and will continue to be a faithful reader!Have a great day!The Busy Brunettehttp://thebusybrunette.blogspot.com/

Sorry to hear you have been feeling a little under the weather Jen :( I hope you get better soon. The living room is coming along nicely so you don't need to worry so much :) Looking forward to seeing the finished room! Xx

The room is coming together beautifully! I have a couple of questions about your frame wall! What is the distance between your frames? Also - what size pictures do you have printed (and where)? I really like the size of those frames, but I'm not sure where to get an 8x12 picture printed! I'm wondering if I'd need to manipulate the photos to have a "border" put on them and then have 11x14 pictures printed? Thank you!

The frames are spaced 1 1/2" apart. And I have all my photos printed through Mpix.com. I love their quality and they always seem to ship quickly. And they offer a large variety of sizing options making it easier to fit non-standard sized frames.

I love the fabric on that chair!! Glad to see some green in the room again. :)

Also, I think you should stick with the paint colour - it's a great neutral but not the typical grey/tan/white option so it's got a little more character. And I think it's pairing nicely with everything else you've got going on! Just my two cents of course...

Love how the room is coming together and I'm really enjoying seeing each step in the process. Learning a lot! We have a huge wall in our living room that I don't know what to do with... I love the frames, can't wait to see what pictures you decided to put in them. The re-fabric chair looks amazing!!

I know how much you love your white furniture, but I do miss the wood tone on the spindle chair. Fun fabric selection though!I think my favorite thing, so far, is the gallery wall! I love how the thin black frames pop off your wall. Can't wait to see what pics get put in. I've been working on re-doing a gallery wall for my staircase, so this is giving me some good ideas. :-)

I do love white, it's always been my favorite. However, a little secret is that I actually had the chair upholstered before painting it, thinking I would leave it the natural wood color. But in the room, it really looked a little more "country" style than my style. So I taped it off and painted it and loved it instantly more. Plus, the wood on the chair wasn't a natural stain, more of a laminate or something? It was strange. Depending on how the bookcases come along, it could change again at the midnight hour before the reveal, only time will tell. :) xoxo!

Your family room is turning into such a beautiful space, although it was before but I am in love with all of your new design choices!! You go girl!! I love seeing and reading these updates :)And my mom has 2 chairs similar to yours, you have inspired me to do something with them!

Love the progress!Just wondering which frames you chose. I know they are from Michael's, but do you remember the brand/ size? I've been looking for a good quality frame and love the look of the ones you chose.

You're amazing!! What a beautiful room... so much fun to see it coming together. Feel better soon, lovely!! P.S. Good call on the paint colour - it's looking more and more perfect the more things you layer into the space! xo

Hi Katie! We cut a thin piece the size of the glass which we will attach to the bottom side of the thicker piece to hold everything in place. That way it won't be a permanent change, just something we are toying with. xo!

I absolutely love bobbin (spindle) chairs/furniture, too. I just have not been able to see paying the tremendous cost. I'm very excited you found the one at HG. The paint and fabric you used made it look extremely classy. I'm loving the colors and mix of your fabrics and can't wait to see your finished project. It will be beautiful.

Oh I'm just loving how this is coming together. Your fabrics are gorgeous. And I bought the same spool chair from HG (actually two of them) last year too! In a hot second - I've always had the same love/aversion to the price for them. What a find!

Hi - the room looks great! I was wondering if you could share how you painted the Craigslist chair? I have 2 old chairs just like it and I'm feeling ambitious after seeing how cute it looks painted white! Thanks :)

I definitely have been keeping track of our DIY's for the space so I can recap some of them at the end of the challenge, including the chair painting (basically spray paint primer and then a paint sprayer for the color). :) xoxo!

It's looking gorgeous - and I'm a smitten kitten for that spindle chair! I hear you on paint issues though - I tried to convince myself that the color I painted my bathroom vanity would work, but alas, no go. I just had my paint re-tinted and now I'm happy. :-) Your paint color is beautiful though, btw. ;-)

I am glad you kept the wall color....it really is pretty and reads a soft neutral. Especially with your fabrics! I love the direction for this room and hopefully when you are feeling better you will love everything you have done:)

Hi Jen - I was wondering where you found your beautiful (tufted, rolled arm, neutral color) sofa. It is perfect. I looked in earlier posts and can't seem to find it? User error probably! Thank you for your blog ~ it is a delight!! ~Lisa

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